Machining operations of various configured metal workpieces are a standard throughout the world, and are especially common with vehicular components. These operations include shaping, boring, drilling, milling, or other metal cutting or turning operations executed with various types of cutting tools. As the machining operations progress, fluid is typically supplied to the cutting tool of the machine while it is machining a workpiece, for lubricating and cooling the cutting tool, as well as flushing chips of workpiece materials from it and out of its path of travel, to increase machine efficiency and prolong the life of the cutting tool by preventing excessive chip buildup on the tool.
In theory, chips that are rather short fall to the bottom of the machining center, away from the tool and workpiece. However, in practice, these chips can become very long, stringy, and curly, and create enormous machining issues.
While the formation of these long chips when using conventional manually operated machine tools may be of a slightly lesser concern, since the chips can be readily removed by the operator during their formation, there are still safety hazards because the long curling chips often form growing bundles which can cut the operator's skin while attempting to remove them. Additionally, when using a computer programmed or other automated machine tools, especially, when the machine tools are enclosed in a housing, access to the workpiece for breaking or removing the chips is restricted so as to present a problem with to the respect to the generation and removal of the long continuous chips.
Further, in gear cutting operations, the cutting machine system may produce excess heat by the action of the cutting tool against the workpiece. This heat adversely influences the cutting tool and or the material being machined. It is especially valuable to have constant flow of fluid across the surface of the cutting edges of the workpiece and the cutting tool to keep the tool as well as the workpiece cool. Typically, the cutting system has one or two fluid hoses within it that each direct a flow of fluid to a specific area of the tool. These nozzles enable fluid to be delivered to a certain portion or area of the cutting surface of the tool while it is engaged with the workpiece during machining.
Over the years, engineers have devised a long list of cooling strategies intended to direct flow in the general area of metalworking or cutting operations. In fact, the use of one or more cooling nozzles dates far back in the metallurgical cutting arena. From those early dates forward, numerous manufacturers of metal workpieces have included some cooling strategy to inhibit chip buildup or over heating of the work tool. Many of these nozzles were set to distribute excess fluid at excessive rates, causing a lot of waste. Many of the nozzle configurations are particular to the specific workpiece geometry features, and are not easily transferable to different designs or sizes. The one or two nozzle cooling strategy for one cutting machine may be totally ineffective and inappropriate for a different cutting machine or tool. With every new design, new cooling configurations and strategies must be devised in order to specifically address the needs and geometry of each new part, which can lead to enormous production costs, poor workpiece quality, and increased waste.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the issues set forth above.